Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1887-12-27
A cowardly Attempt Upon the
Life of w. F.. Landers, Gem
eraI Agent of the B. & O..

tFrom the Cumberland Times OF Wednesday.l
A most dastardiy attempt to as
sassinate w. F. Ianders, Baltimore
and Ohio agent here, was made last
night at IL :30o:clock. At,11 o'clock
Mr.. Landers went to his Office, on the
lower floor of the Queen City hotel,
turned up the gas and began check
ing up. some Ear reports. BY 1880
he had finished his work for the night
and leaned over his desk to turn out
the gas. just as his fingers touched
the Key of the gas jet, partly lower
ing the light, a pistol shot rang out,
and the ball, a 32-caiibre, passed
within an inch of Mr.. Landers' left
shoulder, burying itself in the wall
over the mantel.
The report of the pistol drowned
the sound of falling glass, and for a
moment Mr.. Landers did not know
he had been shot at, he supposed the
report was the explosion of a torpedo
on tie tracks just in front of his Of
fee, but the smoke in the Office told
him quickly what had happened.-
The light was nearly out and Mr..
Landers could see no one, but hear
ing a maj running along the area to-
wards the office of DIR. Doerner at the
other end of the hotel, he started in
pursuit but failed to overtake the
party. Officer Ohr, hearing the shot,
came running up and assisted in the
hunt but without C
The office occupied by Mr.. Lam
ders is about 10 feet long by 8 wide,
and adjoiningth the waiting-room for the
emigrants, in which a lights usually
kept all night. The agents desk is
about four feet from the glass door
in front of the office and Immediately
facing a large window on a level with
the desk. Mr.. Landers was at this
desk; the would-be assassin stood
behind the jam of the glass door and
fred through the glass, the muzzle OF
his pistol touching it, and not over 6
feet from Mr.. Lander's back, whose
escape was wonderful. Had the
cowardly cur fired a second sooner
or later, his purpose would most
likely have been accomplished, as
only the extending of Mr.. Lander's
arm to turn out the gas put his left
shoulder out of the course of the hull
let, and had he recovered his origi-
nal position the bullet must have
passed into his left side just back of
the heart.
Last night the gas in the waiting
room, next to the Office, was put out,
but Mr.. Landers paid no attention
to this as he had ordered Baggage
master Dodson to put out the gas at
night unless there were people wait
ing.
For. several nights Mr.. Landers
has noticed persons moving around
outside his office in an unusual man.
ncr, and last night a man was see in
the area just in front of the window
twenty minutes before the shooting
occurred.
There is little chance of catching
the guilty party, as his extreme cow
ardice in thus attempting to shoot
Mr.. Landers in the back without a
word of warning, leads to the. belief
that he was in the-pay-etsome even
greater coward than himself. A man
with personal spite sufficient to at
tempt another's life would, most like
ly, be brave enough to face him.
After the shooting Mr.. Landers. in
company with Officer Ohr, visited diff
fercnt parts of the city looking for
a clue but could find none. How
ever, the recent suspension and dis
charge of a number of employees of
the road by Mr.. Landers leads to the
belief that the guilty party might be
one of them.